Create table / grid in a Wireframe Visio 2010 diagram

Question

I'm loving the added Wireframe template and corresponding shapes in Visio 2010. One thing I can't seem to find though (not in Visio, Office help or using Google) is a good way to draw tabular controls.

The only built-in shape that comes close is a List Box of which I can link several together. However this has several disadvantages as this leaves me without "rows" in my table.

Does anyone have a good suggestion on how to do this? I'd prefer a shape that is aware of the Visio2010 'theme' stuff, but at this point any quick way to draw a grid in a wireframe would be much appreciated.

PS. Searching for shapes on "table" gives me lovely picnic-table-shapes but no usable grids. Searching for "grid" gives me one or two shapes which aren't particularly helpful either.

Since I had to get started I decided to (for now) go with joining List box shapes together. After fiddling with that for a few hours I found this is absolutely awful. I'll post an update if/when I find a better way to do this. — Jeroen, Sep 16 '10 at 12:29
The only alternative I have found so far is creating a 'sample' excel sheet and then copy/pasting a screen shot of the table from that sheet to my Visio diagram. Ugh :( — Jeroen, Oct 29 '10 at 15:07

score 30 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 02 '10 at 16:48

30

I find Excel a good way to manage grids in Visio. You can easily add and remove columns, manage formating etc.

In Visio 2010 go to Insert -> Object -> Microsoft Excel Worksheet.

answered Nov 02 '10 at 16:48

Jason

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Dear heavens, so brilliant yet so simple! Gonna try that right away, that's exactly what I needed! Thanks a bunch. – Jeroen Nov 18 '10 at 14:17
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This is only a good answer if you happen to have Excel installed on the machine. – Carlos P Oct 27 '14 at 08:17
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@CarlosP, that's true, but it would be a small number of users that only have Visio and not Excel. Also, such users can still read the Visio document. – Jason Apr 14 '16 at 00:28
You can also insert an `OpenDocument Spreadsheet` if you don't have Excel – Wayne Jun 14 '16 at 17:02

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 29 '11 at 14:08

Is was looking for the same and found a way: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio-help/using-shapes-to-create-tables-in-visio-HA001182242.aspx

So you have to search in the stencils "Charting shapes" to find the grid. Still not that intuitive to work with, but will do.

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 06 '14 at 08:09

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Insert->Shapes->More Shapes->Charting Shapes->Grid

answered Feb 06 '14 at 08:09

preet

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Do you have more info or a link with more info? – Lizz Feb 06 '14 at 08:26
This is basically the same thing @Bas mentioned in 2011 in [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/5473866/419956). – Jeroen Feb 06 '14 at 10:25
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But this answer explained it directly – nclord Apr 30 '15 at 13:09
In Visio 2016 : More Shapes -> Business -> Charts and Graphs -> Charting Shapes -> Grid. But it seems broken – Holger Bille Dec 16 '16 at 08:22
In Visio 2016 you can download from here https://visualsignals.typepad.co.uk/vislog/2012/02/modifying-the-visio-grid-shape.html – koly86 Jun 30 '22 at 17:21

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 01 '12 at 07:48

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If we are looking for Visio Stencils for Grid/Table, a great resource can be downloaded here: http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/about/stencils/

edited Oct 01 '12 at 07:48

Konerak

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answered Oct 25 '10 at 18:25

Rajesh R. Nair

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Thanks for the answer Arts. At first glance it seems like a great resource. The Data Table however seems to be built with the ListBox shape (or equivalent), which still suffers from the aforementioned problems (for ex: adding/removing columns is a major hassle). – Jeroen Oct 29 '10 at 15:05

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 29 '14 at 20:55

I use Visio to design wireframes. When I need datagrids or tabular data, I end up using Excel to design a grid with some data and formatting (fonts, size, border, etc.) Then I select the grid in Excel, copy it to clipboard and then Paste Special in Visio and select Image. Not perfect but works for me.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 22 '10 at 11:42

Too bad no one had a solution. I'll mark this response as an answer to my own question then.

The answer to my problem (for so far I could find) in fact then seems to be that you have to work around this omission in Visio by either:

using linked "List box" shapes
use one of the (rather crappy) table shapes you can search for and find online
use a screenshot (or something alike) from another program

If anyone ever lands at this question with a better workaround or even a real solution please be sure to add it.

score -1 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 10 '15 at 21:48

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Create the desired table in Excel. Simply copy and paste special as Microsoft Excel Worksheet, and you can then click into it and do whatever you want.

Tip: Color your grid before copying it so that you don't see the Visio gridlines. Looks much nicer on-screen!

edited Feb 10 '15 at 21:48

Jeroen

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answered Feb 10 '15 at 21:47

Alexis

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Isn't that basically the same as [Philippe's answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/25024839/419956)? – Jeroen Feb 10 '15 at 21:49

Create table / grid in a Wireframe Visio 2010 diagram

7 Answers7